Falcons snap counts: Keanu Neal played 5 positions in rookie year

Falcons snap counts: Keanu Neal played 5 positions in rookie year

When the Atlanta Falcons made Keanu Neal their first-round selection in last year’s NFL draft, a lot of people called the pick a reach. Little did they know the Falcons were getting five players for the price of one.

The so-called positionless football trend is taking the league by storm, and few are thriving at it the way Neal is in Atlanta.

During his rookie season, Neal established himself as one of the game’s best young safeties, molded in the grand hard-hitting tradition of Kam Chancellor and Sean Taylor before him. However, it’s not Neal’s bone-jarring tackles that will make him a great NFL player: it’s his versatility.

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Last year Neal played 920 defensive snaps, or 82.8 percent of the team’s total. Only Robert Alford (1,081) and Ricardo Allen (1,101) played more.

That’s a heavy workload for any rookie, but what’s truly remarkable is the fact Neal lined up at five different positions throughout the season. In fact, the traditional “safety” label doesn’t even begin to describe everything Neal can do.

According to Pro Football Focus, Neal played 40 percent of his snaps at linebacker, 23 percent at nickel, 19 percent as a deep safety, 13 percent as a box safety and five percent at outside corner: